[2] Alvastra monastery was founded in 1143 by French monks who belonged to the Cistercian Order.
A number of monks and lay brothers left the French monastery of Clairvaux Abbey.
It was founded at Alvastra in Västra Tollstad parish in Ödeshög municipality on the site of a donation of land by King Sverker I of Sweden.
Stefan, Archbishop of Uppsala (Stephanus) was a Cistercian monk from Alvastra monastery.
[5] Alvastra monastery was dissolved and appropriated by the Crown at the time of the Protestant Reformation in accordance with the Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden.